Two hours southish of nearby Yeosu, on roughly the same latitude as Chuja-do and the glorious Gageo-do, lie several small islands
collectively known as Geomun-do. ‘Do’ can mean island in Korean, and is
pronounced ‘D’oh!’, which is apt when dealing with travelling to Korea’s
islands. The ferries are cancelled at
the drop of a hat, or are still running when they should have been cancelled,
which I’ll get to in a bit. Also, the
ferries are often fully booked up by tour companies that fill them up with cackling
tourbus-loads of drunken mainland pensioners.
On more than one occasion I’ve showed up at a ferry terminal at
7:00am, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with my binos and dreams of sexy
vagrant birds, only to be told that the boat is fully booked for the day, and
in fact, has been for weeks. D’oh.

Geomun-do has an
interesting history in that the British held the island for several years in
the late 19th Century ('Port Hamilton'), and were even trying to promote it as ‘The
Gibraltar of the East’ to adventurous Victorian travelers. There remains a small British cemetery on the
island, with an array of commemorative plaques from different eras and
political mindsets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Hamilton

Being largely
unbirded, Subho and I headed down there a few weeks ago for a pioneering
trip. As far as Korean islands go,
Geomun-do is quite a charming and friendly one, in my opinion. The locals were welcoming, for the most part,
and the island itself held some promising patches of habitat. Some Korean islands have very different
feels, like the over-militarized Baengnyong-do, the gruff Eocheong-do, or the aloof
Gageo-do. One interesting thing I’ve
noticed on these islands is that there is invariably one cop, and one gangster
on each island, and they are usually friends.
A story for another day.

We didn’t run into
anything too crazy, but we weren’t really expecting to, as it was still fairly early in
the migration season. We were just there to
scope out the habitat. The resident
Black Wood Pigeons were great to see, and we did spot some early signs of
movement, the most glamorous being several male Narcissus Flycatchers. Red-flanked Bluetails, Grey-faced Buzzards, and a good mix of finches were also on the move through Geomun-do.

The ferry ride back was tormented by 45 km/hr winds, and it was hellish.
Most of the 200 passengers, who glibly devoured beer, squid, and spicy
soup for the first 20 minutes of the trip, soon regretted their lifestyle
choices as the seas got extremely heavy.
Everyone around me was vomiting up spicy red foam, praying, and/or
donning life-vests. It was like being in
a plane crash...for two hours. D’oh.

Perhaps chastened by
the vomit-slicked boat, the ferry company cancelled the ferries for the past
two weekends, spoiling my dreams of returning every weekend to continue the
pioneering. I may return this coming
long weekend, if any tickets become available on the lottery-style ticket
website. My Gageo tickets for this weekend were already
booked, but I had to cancel them due to the impossibility of post-9pm bus
travel between major cities in Korea.
Double-D’oh.

Geomun-do Highlights:

Intermediate Egret – 1 trapped by weather/resting

Sparrowhawk sp – seen briefly from the ferry, flying low to
the water, struggling in the 45 km/hr winds

Japanese Waxwings
were seen several times in March. On
March 20th, I saw ten in a quick flyby on the river that leads to
the bay, with two more seen nearby, the next day. On March 27th, seven were spotted in the
company of some Dusky and Naumann’s Thrushes, at the sterile/baffling Suncheon
Bay Gardens. I later got good looks at a
diminutive tailless Long-tailed Tit.

On the morning of March
24th, Suncheon Bay’s Hooded Crane numbers were down in the low 400s
(from a personal high count of more than 800 in mid-February), and I saw my
first Barn Swallows of the year. Soon
after, two Chestnut-eared Buntings were seen near the entrance to the touristy
area. Five days later, while on a walk
to the bay along the river, I spotted a Wood Sandpiper pacing a small flooded
field, and got great looks at a confiding Japanese Wagtail. At the
bay itself, an oiled Red-throated Diver was seen paddling aimlessly on a small
artificial pond.

On April 2nd,
in a large field near the park, I encountered four Stejneger’s Stonechat (my
first of the year), a Hen Harrier, and small groups of Chinese Penduline Tit, as
well as Pallas’s and Common Reed Bunting still.
On the 8th, small numbers of Intermediate Egret and Common
Sandpiper were seen along the river, probably fresh in, while Barn Swallow
numbers swelled daily. A Chestnut-eared
Bunting and several Little Buntings were also seen. On an early morning trip to Bay on April 10,
the highlight came when I surprised a Eurasian Bittern at close range in a
quiet reedy pond, and it hesitantly flushed, showing its spectacular
tiger-stripe pattern well.

About Me

Howdy! I'm a birder from Montreal who has been working and birding in South Korea since 2005. I've lived on Jeju and Geoje Islands, and have birded at a diverse range of sites in South Korea. After drifting around Europe for a bit, I'm back in Suncheon, Korea for one last hurrah. Ergo sum ego avem. (contact me at mattpoll24 at gmail dot com)